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The UN, Hamas, and Alice in Wonderland

The UN Human Rights Council’s vote to launch an international inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes in “Occupied Palestinian Territory” has a distinct quality of déjà-vu.

THE MEETING hall of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Photo: Reuters

The UN Human Rights Council’s vote to launch an international inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes in “Occupied Palestinian Territory” has a distinct quality of déjà-vu. Indeed, close to 40% of all UN Special Sessions have been condemnatory of Israel. But, it also has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel of “sentence first, verdict afterwards,” because the resolution – which focuses primarily on purported Israeli criminality – establishes a commission of inquiry while presupposing Israeli guilt.

If precedent – such as the Goldstone Commission following the 2009 war between Hamas and Israel – be the guide, the inquiry will likely marginalize, if not sanitize, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by…